


The Place I Belong

by ThereIsNoTragedyInThat



Series: Know Thy Self [4]
Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone gets hugs, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Hugging, Light Angst, Nile Freeman Needs a Hug, Soft Booker | Sebastien le Livre, and she gets one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26805100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat/pseuds/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat
Summary: 20 hugs in 20 ficlets from my tumblr.
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman
Series: Know Thy Self [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953133
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52





	1. For You

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts found here: https://mysunfreckle.tumblr.com/post/172214982206/hug-prompts

It was raining.

Booker found himself gazing out the window of the newest sanctuary, staring past the grime and streaks of water to the thick foliage of the garden. He sipped his coffee, reveling in the way the hot liquid scorched his mouth and throat on the way down, warming him up from the inside. The weather had taken a turn these past few days and he was eager to move on.

He didn’t like the cold.

The memories that came with the first snowfall was never pleasant, even after 200 years. Closing his eyes, Booker tried to clear his head, to focus on something, anything other then the phantom pain of ice pelting his skin, his eyelids freezing open, the never ending hunger that used to scratch at his insides.

Fucking Russia.

Of all the things he’d endured since becoming immortal, besides his family, those experiences haunted him the most. Some nights he still dreamt of the crows that picked out his eyes after he’d been hung, the feeling of shaking, desperate fingers scrabbling at his shoes, his pants, and later…with knives. The soldiers hadn’t been the only ones starving and to this day he wondered what had happened to those kids…after they’d run away, screaming as though a demon had gripped them tight and promised them eternity in hell.

Booker shook his head roughly. Yes, he detested the cold and he would have to talk to Andy about getting out of there today, after all he wasn’t the only one. Still, the thought was tinged with remorse. Nile had been so excited about visiting Amsterdam and now they would be leaving before she had the chance to really appreciate it.

He would have to make it up to her.

Arms wrapped around his waist, startling him for a moment before a sharp nip on his shoulder made him relax. Nile chuckled softly behind him, tightening her arms briefly and Booker found himself smiling as he leaned back a bit.

“What are you doing up already?”

“Bed was cold,” she murmured into his back. “Wondered where you went.”

He put down his coffee and turned in her arms, finding a teasing glint in her tired eyes and Booker found himself in awe, as he so often did these days, awe of her and this. So, because he could, he leaned down and pressed a firm kiss to her lips, felt her hands grip his shoulders and tug him closer.

Maybe he could stand the cold a little longer.


	2. Happy Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Sleepy hug

Booker watched as the boring landscape raced by, fields and trees the only features of notice for the past two and half hours that they had been driving. In the front, Joe kept a steady pressure on the gas pedal, mindful not to speed, when they were covered in blood and had enough weapons for a small militia.

Next to Joe in the passenger seat, was Nicky, head back and eyes closed, breathing steady. Booker knew he wasn’t asleep, could practically feel the adrenalin sliding off of him, the jitteriness that so often plagued him after a long, hard fight like today. Over the middle console, Booker couldn’t help but notice their hands clasped together tightly, as though they both needed an anchor.

He didn’t blame them.

The rest of them were crushed in the back, not that they minded really. Andy was fast asleep, curled up on her side of the car, limbs and neck twisted awkwardly and he had to bite his tongue to keep from commenting when she first settled in. Andy, they had all learned, did not take well to any mention of her mortality as a vulnerability. 

Pressed into his own side, Nile was blinking wearily, head drooping, exhaustion written plain as day in every line of her body. Booker had been watching from the corner of his eye for the better part of an hour as she fought her body’s needs and it was clear she was too stubborn to simply succumb.

Shaking his head Booker reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, “there is still a way to go Nile, you might as well get some sleep.”

For a moment, just one, her eyes sparked like she was offended he even suggest she relax but it died as quickly as it came, fizzling away under another cloud of exhaustion. Booker offered her a crooked smile as he tugged her close until she reluctantly lowered her head on his shoulder.

“You’ll wake me when we get there?”

“No, I’ll just drag you out of the car…or better yet I’ll leave you here to finally sleep.”

She smacked his stomach playfully, “hey be nice, I almost died today.”

There was a soft, barely there chuckle in the front seat and Booker met Nicky’s too knowing eyes. This was something they had all heard to many times before, in all their years together and it was nice to know some things never changed, that humanity had not slipped away while they marched on timelessly.

“You do know that excuse won’t always work right?” he teased.

A wide yawn kept her from answering and then she was nuzzling into his side, wrapping her arms around him and pressing close, “it’ll work on you.”

He did not answer, refusing to incriminate himself in such a way, knowing he’d never be able to deny her much of anything, even on days when she hadn’t nearly died. No, instead he just held her close, felt her warmth against his side, and let himself believe in happy endings, even small ones.


End file.
